TALISMAN Michael Kightly today prepared to declare himself ready to return to boost embattled Wolves’ cause - with a stirring message of support for boss Mick McCarthy.

TALISMAN Michael Kightly today prepared to declare himself ready to return to boost embattled Wolves’ cause - with a stirring message of support for boss Mick McCarthy.

A run of seven games without a win has seen the pressure mount on the previously untouchable Wolves boss, with the radio phone-ins and messageboards turning into something of a ‘Strop Shop’ of fans calling for the manager’s head.

But Kightly, today set to pronounce himself available to McCarthy for tomorrow’s FA Cup tie with Cambridge, believes Wolves would go backwards if they were to lose their manager.

And the influential winger has urged Wolves fans not to act as “sheep” in joining in football’s criticism-rife culture, encouraging them instead to revisit their support of last season and help spark a revival.

“Every team has a blip, from top to bottom, Premiership through to Conference,” said Kightly, who after a week’s training is waiting to see if McCarthy puts him on the bench tomorrow.

“Hopefully this has been ours, and it’s at end, with us still only two points adrift of the play-offs.

“People are talking about it being all doom and gloom and fans are calling for the manager’s head – it’s ridiculous, one of the most stupid things I’ve ever heard.

“We’re two points off the play-offs, which puts us in a better position than we were this time last season, and if we can stop the rot and kick on from here I still think we can get automatic.

“I’ve said many times that the gaffer here is the best manager I’ve ever played for and a lot of the other lads would say the same.

“For the gaffer to part company with this club would be an absolute disgrace.

“What he’s done in the last year has turned this club around, and to pull the plug now would only damage Wolves.

“Hopefully everyone will have a bit of patience, and we will pick up and start getting some results.”

Kightly and his team-mates remain hugely appreciative of the support of the majority of the Molineux public, but has strong words for the vocal minority whom he believes could harm Wolves’ promotion chances.

Most recently, there was widespread booing of McCarthy’s decision to substitute Andy Keogh against Sheffield United, despite the striker’s chest infection which has seen him kept away from the training ground as a precaution for the last two days.

“They’re all injured – a lot of fans are coming out with their points of view but they don’t know the truth.

“It’s frustrating to read or see or hear certain comments from fans when they don’t know what is going on behind the scenes.

“I understand they expected more this season, and to be fair they should expect more.

“But why be a sheep and follow everyone else and boo when it’s easy to boo?

“Why not get behind the team, think ‘we’ll be the 12th man’ and help the team get through it.

“To be fair the support here has been great, and 80 per cent are like that, but it’s the other 20 per cent that are heard.

“We need everyone here together from kitman to chairman to get this club to where it wants to be.

“If we’ve got people pulling in other directions it’s not going to happen.”

COMMENT - by Paul Berry

These are strong words from Wolves winger Michael Kightly, describing calls for Mick McCarthy’s head as “ridiculous” and urging the minority of fans to stop acting as “sheep” in joining football’s modern day booing culture.

But they come from the heart, and are certainly not intended to deliberately annoy or provoke.

The influential winger has reluctantly experienced the life of a Wolves fan all for himself in six weeks on the sidelines, and some of it he doesn’t like.

And let’s face it, if there’s one Wolves player who deserves to dish out a few home truths without fear of retribution then it’s the one who has perhaps most epitomised McCarthy’s team – and the Molineux men’s return from the dead - over the last 17 months.

Like his team-mates, Kightly revelled in the incredible support of Wolves fans last season, and visibly gulped at the reaction to that 6-0 defeat to Southampton which should have rid the Molineux faithful of their fickle reputation once and for all.

To a man the squad also knew it was going to be much different this time around, from a set of supporters boosted both by that renaissance and the promise of Steve Morgan’s millions.

Of course after seven winless games at the back of a season yet to set the world on fire, the moans and grumbles are understandable, perhaps even question marks over McCarthy’s position.

But while there is still so much to play for, and while McCarthy is rightly being given the time to improve things, just think how much harder it could be for visitors to Molineux to be greeted with support more akin to last season than this.

Back in 2003 Wolves under Dave Jones were going through a similar temporary malaise.

Then, on January 5 would you believe, along came Newcastle in the FA Cup Third Round.

Molineux – and Wolves - awoke from its slumbers, those fans who can be such a special influence when in the mood roused themselves, and on the back of a famous win Jones’s boys stormed all the way to the Premiership.

Cambridge are no Newcastle, and tomorrow’s crowd certainly won’t be 27, 316, but who’s to say a bit of unity and strength in adversity from the Wolves’ public – however difficult and against the grain that may be - might not just spark a similar chain of events five years on?